A major controversy arose in the late 1800s in Baku. Russian Orthodox Church decided to build a new cathedral on land was occupied a Muslim cemetery. Molla Nasreddin magazine made this caricature, showing Russian soldier forcing Azerbaijanis from their cemetery.
Russian Exarch of Georgia - Pavel (Dobrokhotov) personally came to Baku to solve the issue. In a dinner with governor, he made a speech and said that in a region representing a mixture of many confessions and sects it was not a good move.
Therefore he proposed another place - Kolyubakin Square (modern Fountains Square), on which “a lot of Russian blood was shed and many Orthodox people died,” was the most convenient place for the construction Russian Orthodox Cathedral and monument to Emperor Alexander II.
Therefore he proposed another place - Kolyubakin Square (modern Fountains Square), on which “a lot of Russian blood was shed and many Orthodox people died,” was the most convenient place for the construction Russian Orthodox Cathedral and monument to Emperor Alexander II.
Therefore he proposed another place - Kolyubakin Square (modern Fountains Square), on which “a lot of Russian blood was shed and many Orthodox people died,” was the most convenient place for the construction Russian Orthodox Cathedral and monument to Emperor Alexander II.
Therefore he proposed another place - Kolyubakin Square (modern Fountains Square), on which “a lot of Russian blood was shed and many Orthodox people died,” was the most convenient place for the construction Russian Orthodox Cathedral and monument to Emperor Alexander II.
Therefore he proposed another place - Kolyubakin Square (modern Fountains Square), on which “a lot of Russian blood was shed and many Orthodox people died,” was the most convenient place for the construction Russian Orthodox Cathedral and monument to Emperor Alexander II.
According to him, such a neighbourhood "is itself decent. This will help our church affairs to cleanse themselves of tribal squabbles that have inappropriately mixed into them". Things were going to get a lot complicated, however.
German Governor of Baku Justus Hübsch von Grossthal was a Catholic and he already allocated this plot to Catholics to build a church. He objected exarch and said that “he sees no need to be ashamed of choosing this place for Catholics”.
And together with the City mayor Despot Zenovich (also a Polish Catholic), they decided to build both Catholic and Orthodox churches on the site of the Muslim cemetery. This time, the Orthodox church objected it.
A former worker of the governorate Mikhail Kachurin wrote a complaint to the MIA about the fact that "a Catholic, the chairman of City Duma, casually and disrespectfully speaks in our country about an issue so close to every national and religious feeling."
Despot-Zenovich retorted saying Azerbaijanis should not mind because they didn't protest before - “When mosques were turned into churches or artillery stores, this did not provoke an open protest from the local population”.
But the Orthodox didn't really care about sentiments of Muslims, they just didn't want an Orthodox Church next to a Catholic one. Therefore, they grabbed the whole territory for themselves and built the grandiose Alexander Nevsky Cathedral.
However, it wouldn't even survive for 50 years. It was blown up in 1937 by Soviets.
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